Engaging in shopping therapy has never worked for me. When I am depressed or sad, I can try a lot of clothing on but I will not believe that a single item looks good on me. Just laying out the money itself tends to be a struggle so what I did today was completely out of character. It was necessary but it was out of character.

Now that I have lost 16 pounds (only one more to go!) over the last three months, none of my pants fit. Many of my tops do not fit. I have skirts and dresses only because some old ones were still hanging in my closet that I should have gotten rid of but loved and could not bear to part with. While I often wear skirts, suits, and dresses to work, having to do so every day when a good suit with pants or pants and blazer would do is getting old. So, with Day-Hay along to encourage me, I dropped major money on some coordinating pieces: pants, tops, and a blazer. Me, dropping a couple hundred dollars on work clothes all at the same time. Mr. Philately is not sure what I�ve done with his wife.

There are more pieces from Petite Sophisticate that would also coordinate but I decided to save those for another time. I don�t think I could have taken the shock of spending more money. Surprisingly, the whole thing felt good although I think what I felt good about was the way things looked and fit. (I suspect that they are fudging sizes a bit though. I was never this size before Kat was born even though I weighed what I weigh now.)

I would say that this good feeling will last until I get the bill but Mr. Philately usually does the bills. I have different chores such as dealing with insurance. He says he has no intention of reminding me that he is paying the bill. It�s good that he feels this way as he dropped nearly four times as much a year ago when he suddenly realized that it had been more than fifteen years since he had bought a new suit, good pants, and sports coats. He also decided he needed a new trench coat.

I suspect that my shopping spree is as much relief to him as his getting a ding in the new Camry would be to me. We have a reversal of the traditional roles when it comes to shopping. He is more capable of spending, particularly on himself, than I am. Suddenly though, he feels better about his spending last year. He�s not the only one who can spend on work clothes. Unfortunately, I�m still going to have to spend a bit on tailoring. Suit coats look better when the sleeves are shortened by a professional tailor. I don�t have the patience for the lining and such.

Which brings me to the one part that irks me: tailoring. Mr. Philately, who has a winged scapula and scoliosis, needs major tailoring on jackets (although his gorilla arms also require that sleeves be lengthened.) He�s a guy. He gets his tailoring for free (or low cost) through the place that he bought the suit. Not so for me. I�ll pay�and pay. But I�ll look good while I do it.

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